1952 Bedford SB bus

[dodgsun]

As posted in THIS thread, i have recently purchased this ol bus. It has been converted into a home and obviously been around a bit. the inside needs redoing and the bodywork has seen better days but nothing some MDF and a tin of f'glass cant fix
will be moving it to a yard near home to get it to a stage where i can then take it home (on permits) and do the interior, but first i need to fix the running gear and panel work.

Engine has been replaced at some stage with a 202 holden 'red' motor. not the best thing to push 8tons around but seems to fit ok. hope to get it going before moving it so it can be positioned easily. Unfortunately since first seeing it some hoon smashed thru the front brick wall and ended up pushing the gates into the left front panel. making it worse than it was. But as all the panels are just riveted on i'll pull these off and see if i can straighten them. and seeing all the other panels arnt structural i'll just f'glass and bog them into shape. some new panels will have to be re-done eg: the rear storage doors, but hopefully that will be all. not hard to do really but still....

If anyone has spare parts or leads to NOS parts and mechanisms please leave a note here. i may need some if i cant replace with new bits.

anyways, time for some pics.... will update when i do something worthy

before it was hit..

[Carlisle 8]

Good upon you for purchasing the dear old girl. What are your intentions? Restoration and preservation as a bus, or do you intend to use it as a mobile home? Best of luck, either way.

Let's hope that the information on the maker's plate allows system improver to establish the old beast's identity.

[dodgsun]

.
Let's hope that the information on the maker's plate allows system improver to establish the old beast's identity.

I hope he can!

I'll use it as a mobile home, way too much work to restore it back to a bus. plus touring around in it would be awesome to see!
but hopefully it will still retain the original look, just need to figure out a nice paint scheme!

[busways266]

Looks a good project , you need to toss the red motor asap , power to weight = poor fuel consumption & not much power , even a healthy 253 on LPG would be a better & cheap investment ( but a jap 6cyl turbo - Isuzu / Hino etc around 200hp would be better) , From experience the brakes will usually be the main headache on these old girls .. And frame rust , but like you said , its tin & rivets to get to it for repair or replace . Hope you get a lot of fun out of it ..

J

[qutas]

Dodgsun, This is what you can do with a Tasmanian Bedford (ex Yolla) http://s698.photobucket.com/albums/vv346/qutas/

[dodgsun]

finally got it moved.......



and at its new abode




as you can see, the damage to the left front is enough to be a bother. but we'll see how it pans out.

oh. and the motor is not a 202 but a chev 250 or 292 (looks the same when viewed from above ,especially when they used the 3300cc aircleaner).
much bigger than the 202 so should have a lot more power too!!

[RK215]

As I recall Bedford Australia did fit the Chevrolet 250 and 292 engines to some TJ and TK truck models during the 1970s, in place of the Bedford 214 and 300 gasoline engines. I am not sure, though, if this practice extended to the bus chassis such as the SB3, VAM3 and VAS3. But even if not, then basis the truck installations, presumably Bedford parts would have been available to facilitate retrofits. The Holden engines in the 138 through 202 series seem to have been smaller editions of the Chevrolet engine, with bore centres reduced from 4.4 to something like 4.15 or 4.08 inches (?)

Bedford UK evidently was not persuaded of the virtues of this change, and stayed with its own design heavy-duty gasoline engines to the end. The 300 had been improved mechanically over the years, mostly because of changes that were necessary for the corresponding 300 and 330 diesel engines.

On the other hand, Ford UK did differently though. With the transition from the Thames Trader to the D-series in 1965, it abandoned its own 4P and 6P gasoline engines (to which the 4D and 6D diesels were counterparts) and adopted what appeared to be the US-origin 240 and 300 engines, which were more-or-less counterparts to (and looked somewhat like) the Chevrolet 250 and 292 engines.

Cheers,

[dodgsun]

cheers for that. i'll have to grab the engine # and then i can make out which one it is. tried to get it running today. but lack of battery power made it a non-event. (must make sure battery is fully charged next time!)
there is a LOT of work to get this one up to driving condition. apart from the body the mech all need cleaning or replacing. someone did mention it might be easier to grab a late model truck (crashed/other) and just swap out the chassis's but after having a look underneath today the rear has a hotrod style curved chassis over the axle and then drops right down to go under the rear storage. might be easier to grab a truck and transfer it all over this chassis..

[RK215]

The original SB (17’2” wheelbase) had a somewhat complex chassis “shaped” for bus and coach applications. In 1955 Bedford changed to using an essentially straight, flat straight frame, and extended the wheelbase to 18’0”. But unusually for Bedford, the designations, SBG (gasoline) and SBO (diesel), remained the same, not changing until 1957 until suffix numbers were adopted to delineate engine types, initially SB1 (300 diesel), SB3 (300 gasoline) and SB8 (Leyland O.350 diesel).

Cheers,

[dodgsun]

yes, mine has definite 'shape'
i spose using a straight chassis wont be too much of a bother as it would only go thru the rear storage area and would only need 'spacers' where it once was curved.
This will still be a fairly expensive exercise! so i may just get it running and looking ok and then either use it 'on site' or sell it!... we'll see

[Maladjusted]

Congratulaions on the purchase and your having moved it, to its new home
As part of my usual supply of uselesss unformation, The Mexican Chev 6cyl 292 were replaced by the 308 Holden just before the runout of the TK cabs however they didn't supply as much getup and go as the mexican. Sounded nicer though!

[dodgsun]

did think of using a late model 'LS1" on gas. but it still has to move a lot of metal!!!
Just wondering out loud....would it be better if i returned it to a bus and painted it original colours and hired it out to movies/tv/etc cant be many of these around? would it be feasible/worth the effort?? (probably on the wrong side of the country for most of it)
only thinking that as a home i could do better but dont want to see it ending it's life on a farm under a tree somewhere!?

[system improver]

Alas, M33-699 is not on my list. It would have been new around August 1956. There is one possibility. A bus was delivered new to Broadmeadows Bus Service in Melbourne 25/7/56 reg GNK 031. It was eventually sold to The Launceston Walking Club in 1971. However, the body number was never recorded. On the other hand, your bus does seem to have been green for a long time. Sorry I can't be more helpful.

[dropbear68]

How is this old girl progressing

[dodgsun]

pretty much nothing unfortunatley, seeing it's not in the backyard i cant just go play with her. but i am currently moving house and once i settle in i will be making a start to at least get her going so i can move her to the Farm we are renting. so then i will be able to do some work on her.
so far i've taken the starter motor off as she cranks real slow, so going to check if it needs a rewind or the bores need a good soaking in light oil to free them up more., but as with everything, if someone offers me $$ i may sell. maybe
Bruce.

[dropbear68]

Ive read this thread alot, I find the Bedford to have quiet pleasent looks possibly nicer then many later Beddys, Ill offer some information on Petrol engines here, if you intend to repower it Id consider these options, a 265 heavy from a Dodge Truck, heavy meaning the truck engine has a steel crank, the engine used in valiant cars were cast, youd be going to break a Hemi 6 anyway probably one of the strongest engines ever made, all Australian design and originally intended for trucks, these motors pull some awesome loads in trucks we have one on the farm in Dodge D4, she carries regularly 5 to 7 tonne of horse crap and sawdust down the back of the property wth some pretty hefty hills and its no problem, Ive owned many valiant cars and these engines are great, torquey and lots of horsepower in the right rev range and run good on ULP and LPG,

The next engine is the Ford V8 Cleveland now this is another hefty engine designed for truck use, virtually bombproof, love to run hot, the 351 version is real nice donk and these can b tickled for unreal torque and power and there quiet economical for a V8 and Ford have some very heavy duty auto boxes the C6 being the pick of the bunch,

The next is the Ford 6 Cylinder 250 or 4.1 ltr, plenty horsepower in these, they will pull all day and are very reliable nice long stroke, big pots and there very torquey and this can be improved on with these, I ont like the alloy headed 4.1s I much prefer the cast iron headed cross flows, these are my pics for petrol engines, I base this on that these motors have done time in trucks from the factory and they are proven as reliable as any other motor and all will happily run on ULP or LPG and can be worked on easily and parts are easy to get, the thing I like is all 3 run Bosch electrics like dizzys, alts and starters, ultra reliable these are things that are very important to me with something that is driven out into the outback and beyond, I need to know everytime I hit that key its gonna start and not stop, but this is just my opinion.

[VQ]

I had a tafe teacher with a bedford with a 308 which had about 8 gears, so that got it moving quite well, and then he stuck a 253 in there, they are a solid motor and came stock in bedford trucks etc.

[dodgsun]

All good options, but with 8ton it may be a struggle on fuel with smaller engines, not to mention the torque that i will need to pull it and a car trailer (if i go anywhere!). was thinking more of later diesel's rather than petrol motors. i saw an old beddy/comair that had a mid mounted V8 of some description at the local truck repairer, he was just getting some minor work done for rego i think. geez it made the front area quite bigger when you dont have a hump between the front seats! plus heaps of room for those big extractors!! and a shorter tailshaft too. will keep looking around till i get some actual work done on it

[Bedford-29]

Bus company`s that had bedfords with the 300 petrol engine usually replace the petrol with a Perkins diesel engine or a Izusu diesel engine and for a glow plug light they wire a light of some sought on the dash so you know when to kick the engine over.There are the old Perkins out there but look at slipping a Isuzu engine in have a look around on the net.

[johnp]

Gday dodgsun,have you made any further progress on your beddy,i have just purchased a wrap around w/screen sb of 59 vintage(same as me)and have yet to start on it ,but i too will be on the lookout for bits and pieces.most rust confined to window frames and rear top emergency exit door and few small other areas .I would like to do a cosmetic resto on outside but leave/redo interior fitout to actually have an excuse to use it/rego it,would be nice to know of former life if at all possible by finding Ch No etc and if anyone has records of her in service at some stage,build plate only fitted (that i can see at moment) with either BED SB orED SB stamped in it but no numbers,and that many crappy coats of paint on it that makes any(if any) original colours hard to spot. The old girl now resides up near Gidgegannup,cheers John

[dodgsun]

Unfortunately, nothing. i have since moved house and need to work on the cars for now, i still have it at the same yard but dont get the time to go see her. one day eh
still haven't found any spares for them yet either :/

[johnp]

Might be able to catch up with you one day and have a squiz at the green beast and compare notes if you are interested,give me a call one day i drive for SCT Transport in Forrestfield most days,, as long as bedford isnt down Rockingham or Mandurah way i could slip over after work if you are around.I have previously restored a 1952 Guy Arab half cab ex MTT (externally any way) that we drove to Qld.lots of rust in frame had to be repaired etc ,but i wanted to work on that but im not that keen on modern stuff-they just dont seem to have as much character i still have a 82 Austral tag axle motorhome but i just cant get in to it.Anyway if you are interested or need a bit of gee-ing up as far as SB goes you can call me on mob 0404 391 719 cheers John

[dodgsun]

cheers john, the bus sits in Kwinana, near Thomas rd and the freeway. so may be a weekend meetup i reckon.

[dodgsun]

I'm at the point that i have to sell most of my collection..this included... therefore $1500 gets it...plus i know a towie that can move it for you (same guy that did it the first time, oh and he wants the bellhousing for his J1 beddy)

BUY NOW!!!!!!

also posted on FaceBook... word will spread....

[Herbert]

Currently for sale on gumtree